The first and only American gold-medalist in the 10,000-meter run, Billy Mills won the event in the 1964 Olympics. A virtual unknown heading into the race, Mills' performance set a new Olympic record. He later set a world record in the six-mile run in 1965.
Mills began running while a prep student at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. While at the University of Kansas, he was a three-time NCAA cross country All-American, the individual Big Eight Conference cross country champion in 1960 and a member of the 1958 and 1959 Big Eight Champion cross country teams. On the track, he was part of six Big Eight Conference team track championships, the individual Big Eight Conference 2-Mile champion, and part of the 1959 and 1960 NCAA Champion track teams. His best personal NCAA finish was the 5,000-meter race at the 1961 championship, where he finished fifth in 14:48.5.
Billy Mills was inducted into the US National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1976. He was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984, and has also been inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, the South Dakota Hall of Fame, the San Diego Hall of Fame, and the National High School Hall of Fame. President Obama awarded Mills the 2012 Presidential Citizen's Medal for his work with the Running Strong for American Indian Youth organization. In 2013, the NCAA awarded him the Theodore Roosevelt Award, their highest honor.